by Crystal Harris | May 3, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer for May 2, 2021 God we are grateful today for all the celebrations of graduation we see and sense around us. For families of college graduates who snap photos with tears of pride in their eyes, for young people who have worked hard and learned and...
by Crystal Harris | Apr 26, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer for April 25, 2021 (1 John 3:16-24) God of gentleness, stir us, renew us, ignite us. As the choir so beautifully told the wondrous story, sometimes the darkness closes in, sometimes sight is gone and fears take over, and yes this and even this, Jesus...
by Crystal Harris | Apr 19, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer – RKL Sunday, April 18, 2021 Loving and Ever-present God…..Even as we enjoy the beautiful and fresh colors of spring today…and the inspiration of our worship……we are only too aware of the numbing concerns and clamorous needs that surround us today! ...
by Crystal Harris | Mar 23, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer (March 21, 2021) Lord we pray for your help in the times when your grace feels too good for us. In the times we feel we don’t deserve the mercy and forgiveness you offer. In the times when we can’t see beyond the consequences of our missteps and bad...
by Crystal Harris | Mar 2, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer (Romans 12) God we come to you on prayer from a time and place where everyone seems edgy. We come in prayer from a world where people yell and reprimand each other in grocery stores lines. We come from families where our children bicker at each other...
by Crystal Harris | Feb 2, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer, January 31, 2021 God from the beginning of time, you breathed life into us. From you we received our souls, our being, our bodies. From you we were given freedom, freedom to have desire, freedom of vision, freedom to create and cultivate and build....
by Crystal Harris | Jan 26, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer for January 24, 2021 Let us begin with a time of silent prayer. Let us pray. Always Seeking-God….sometimes we are so much like the prophet Jonah…loving to receive grace and compassion when it is directed toward us….and yet sometimes so reluctant to...
by Crystal Harris | Jan 13, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer for 1/10/21 (Jesus’ Baptism) God as we heard the echoes of the familiar baptism story, our minds bring back so many memories of baptisms past; we hear the stories that were told about our own, we can maybe even see old pictures of chubby infants in...
by Crystal Harris | Jan 5, 2021 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Service of Remembrance (From January 3, 2021 worship service): Today we want to recognize those in our First Congregational Church community who have died during the past 10 months as our nation and world have battled the coronavirus….during this uncertain time when...
by Crystal Harris | Dec 27, 2020 | blog, Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer 12-27-2020 God it has been a long year. The longest perhaps. A year remembered by heartache and national grief. This year we practically ran to the manger, so desperate to get a glimpse of peace and hope, to grasp a sense of and joy and love that is...
